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Preston Gralla

Seeing Through Windows

Why Firefox has lost its mojo

112 comments

IT TOPICS:Linux, Macintosh & Apple, Networking, Open Source, Operating Systems, Windows & Microsoft

If you've tuned into MTV or prime-time football in the last few weeks, you may have seen a bizarre sight --- plenty of ads touting Firefox. This is not, as its proponents may say, good news. In fact, it's one more indication of why Firefox has lost its mojo.

Firefox has been gaining in popularity over the last few years not thanks to big-ticket marketing buys, but because it was the best browser out there. It was lean, it sported great features like tabbed browsing, and because of that, its popularity spread like wildfire.

But something has gone wrong with Firefox recently. Version 2.0 was a big disappointment. Sure, some tweaks were made, and the interface was changed a bit. But was it a 2.0 product? Certainly not.

Worse yet, in the intervening time, Internet Explorer caught up. Its tabbed browsing is now superior to Firefox's, for example, and it added plenty of new features, such as anti-phishing capabilities (which Firefox also has). Firefox is no longer the better browser; its extensions and add-ons are superior, but that's about it.

So it's no coincidence that now is the time that Firefox chose to spend megabucks on a big-time TV campaign. It can't beat IE based on features any longer, so instead it's turning to marketing hype.

Is this what open source software is all about --- big bucks spent on TV ads? As open source software, Firefox depends on the good graces of those who contribute their time and effort for free. If there's extra money to be thrown around, perhaps contributors should get paid for their time. They could use the money more than TV networks.

By depending on advertising rather than great programming to increase its popularity, there's only one way for Firefox to go -- downhill. Microsoft has far bigger pockets than Firefox ever will, and if it becomes a battle of marketing and advertising, the battle is already over. Microsoft won.

Instead, Firefox should go back to its roots, building a great browser, and forgetting about big-time ad buys. Maybe then it'll get its mojo back.

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Wow nice post, thanks a

Submitted by Anonymous on November 17, 2009 - 2:29 P.M.

Wow nice post, thanks a lot...free online games

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What are you talking about??

Submitted by Derr De Derr on December 29, 2008 - 5:14 P.M.

I just need to quote a small part of your narrow minded writings...
"Firefox is no longer the better browser; its extensions and add-ons are superior, but that's about it."

What are you talking about here? "but that's about it"?

The extensions and add-ons are what make Firefox, by far, the best browser available. So what if I.E. has caught up with tabbed browsing? Firefox made tabbed browsing an essential part of browsing. Basically, if your browser didnt have tabs, it was pretty much useless. Unless of course you're like 80 years old and can't handle browsing more than one site at a time.

This article was obviously written by a person who just looooves Microsoft and all its great applications. I also have friends who have never switched from I.E. They just can't seem to deal with the infinite possiblities that the extensions and add-ons (as you said, that's about it) Firefox has available can offer to everyday productivity.

Instead of downing Firefox because you love Microsoft, you should tell people about the add-ons and how easy they are to install. As an example the gmail add-on. Of course you probably dont use that because youre stuck in 1999 with your great Microsoft Hotmail account.

Derr

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It's quite a stretch to say

Submitted by Turibe on November 20, 2008 - 12:20 A.M.

It's quite a stretch to say that IE has caught up to Firefox--let alone surpassed it.
Such a claim as the latter is ridiculous. The reasons cited as support for this fallacy are few, and that's completely ignoring the things the areas in which Firefox trumps IE:
standards support (try asking anyone that develops the web-pages and applications you use which browser they like better, IE or Firefox), customizable interface, inline search functionality (compare Ctrl+F in IE and Firefox), a Javascript engine that's 7x as fast (soon to be +14x), a debugger, better rendering times, lower memory footprint, etc, etc.

The list goes on and on.

Not to mention, when a bug or security hole is found in Firefox, Mozilla fixes it in days. Microsoft waits for over a year before they fix it, and the fix comes in the form of a new version of IE--and in many (probably most) cases, the bug isn't even fixed.

Mozilla is all about truly improving the user's and developer's ability to use and create content on the web. The same could never be said about IE. Microsoft didn't even bother making a good browser. They just made a browser that would seem good enough to those already using IE and that are unaware of the pain it causes developers that they wouldn't switch to Firefox, or Opera, or Chrome, or Safari--or any competent browser.

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Firefox

Submitted by Super Mario on May 5, 2008 - 11:11 A.M.

I still prefer firefox to IE. I have alot of browser problem with IE while i have no problem with firefox all these years!

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Firefox is just as fast and

Submitted by software reviews on July 7, 2008 - 1:43 A.M.

Firefox is just as fast and just as easy as Internet Explorer--and more importantly, it's much more secure.

Firefox either matches or surpasses IE.

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Segure is why i use Firefox.

Submitted by baratos on July 16, 2008 - 10:26 A.M.

Segure is why i use Firefox.

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I don't think Firefox has

Submitted by Webdesign Hamburg on April 28, 2008 - 6:01 P.M.

I don't think Firefox has lost any of its "mojo". In fact, I find it more reliable than ever before. It truly is the industry standard that web designers (like me) develop for and that Microsoft is still finding hard to match. Firefox is also the only browser that works equally well on both PC and Mac. There simply is no difference between the two systems. This is a crucial advantage if you work on both systems on a daily basis.

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Main FF advantage -- it doesn't crash my OS

Submitted by Anonymous on March 9, 2008 - 6:27 P.M.

For all of Firefox' problems, it doesn't crash my OS or lose my tabs. Further, it doesn't compete by encouraging webmeisters to develop non-standard, IE-only code. For those reasons alone, I would choose FF over IE.... and the add-ons are a bonus reason to switch!

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May be is not the best way

Submitted by kevin on March 5, 2008 - 6:15 A.M.

May be is not the best way placing ads on TV. It is all discutible, but i agree with all ways to promote Firefox. I agree with your comments and it’s true, may be another way is more effective, but i think also that all ideas are good. Firefox is the browser of the community and all community ideas may be right. We need more effort and all constructive ideas are nice. May be right put ads and also banners on popular websites too, and etc.

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Since Firefox can’t get

Submitted by Alex Mailer on February 14, 2008 - 4:15 A.M.

Since Firefox can’t get themself an OEM desktop default type situation, ads make sense. On TV tho? I don’t know about that. It would make more sense to place ads in places that would more likely hit internet users though. I suspect more old people who don’t use the net and people in general who aren’t avid net users, watch more TV than YouTube…so what do they really care about another web browser as long as the one they already have works?

Placing ads on specific internet sites would probably be a better idea. It would be cool to see a Firefox ad at a place like cnn.com or myspace.com or something. People who use the net, care about their net experience. People watching TV, might care or might not. TV’s a waste for this niche IMHO.

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